Joe Morgan - Playing With Houston

player baseball league valuable

Morgan started the 1964 season with Houston's AA team in San Antonio where he was named the Texas League's Most Valuable Player with a .323 average, 90 runs batted in, 12 homers and 47 stolen bases. At the end of 1964 he played a few games with Houston. One of his hits helped knock the Philadelphia Phillies out of the pennant race. In the Phillies clubhouse after the game, manager Gene Mauch overturned a table full of food. "Mauch stood there, his face reddening," according to the Houston Chronicle's Mickey Herskowitz, "and screamed at his startled players: 'Have you no shame? You just got beat by a guy who looks like a Little Leaguer!'"

Chronology

1943

Born in Bonham Texas

1963

Plays with Modesto Reds and Durham Bulls

1964

Plays with San Antonio Bullets, named Most Valuable Player, Texas League

1964

Joins Houston Colt 45s

1971

Traded to Cincinnati Reds

1975-76

Named Most Valuable Player, National League

1975-76

Won World Series with Cincinatti

1980

Signs with Houston Astros as free agent

1981

Joins San Francisco Giants

1982

Joins Philadelphia Phillies

1983

Traded to Oakland As

1984

Retires as active baseball player

1984

Founds Joe Morgan Investments

1985

Does color commentary on ESPN's college baseball broadcasts

1986-90

Member of San Francisco Giants broadcast team

1988

Assaulted at Los Angeles International Airport by LA undercover police

1990

Elected to National Baseball Hall of Fame

1990-present

Color commentator on ESPN baseball broadcasts

1993

LA City Council awards Morgan $796,000 in damages

Awards and Accomplishments

1964

Most Valuable Player, Texas League

1970, 1972-79

National League All-Star team

1973-77

Gold Glove, second baseman

1975-76

Most Valuable Player, National League

1990

Inducted into National Baseball Hall of Fame

1990

CableAce Award

1997

Sports Emmy

1998

ASA Sportscaster of the Year

1999

ASA Sportscaster of the Year

Morgan skipped AAA ball completely and jumped directly to the Astros in 1965. The team had just moved to its new ballpark, the Astrodome, the first domed park in baseball and the first to use Astroturf instead of natural grass. Morgan realized that a player with his speed and hitting ability was the type most suited to playing in such a park with its vast spaces and fast artificial grass surface. After his good rookie year, batting .271 with 14 home runs, 40 RBIs and 20 stolen bases, the Sporting News named him their Rookie of the Year. But it was Morgan's bearing that impressed his teammates most. "To me he was never really a rookie," Jimmy Wynn, Morgan's roommate on the Astros recalled to Mickey Herskowitz of the Houston Chronicle. "The way he handled himself, his poise, his knowledge … he had the look of a veteran player." Morgan played with the Astros until 1971 when conflicts with Houston manager Harry Walker came to a head and he was traded. Morgan regretted leaving the Astros, but his real career was just beginning—with the Cincinnati Reds.

Citing this material

Please include a link to this page if you have found this material useful for research or writing a related article. Content on this website is from high-quality, licensed material originally published in print form. You can always be sure you're reading unbiased, factual, and accurate information.

Highlight the text below, right-click, and select “copy”. Paste the link into your website, email, or any other HTML document.